


hockey games

by seashel



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hockey, Mutual Pining, Season 3, Shirbert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 15:55:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20799212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seashel/pseuds/seashel
Summary: gilbert isn't into hockey, but he is into anne. (you didn't hear it from me, though)-gilbert trying to impress anne with his mad hockey skills for 936 words straight. aka, what i wish happened after the game.





	hockey games

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i have very limited knowledge of hockey but i tried my best. nonetheless, i hope you enjoy!!!!

Gilbert’s good at hockey, because he has to be. It’s not a complicated game, per se. Just competitive, and every two seconds Billy tries to push him aside even though they’re on the same team.

While he doesn’t particularly care about hockey, he does care about Anne watching.

He knows she’s not watching him specifically. She’s watching the game, because of that article Ruby was supposed to write. He had rolled his eyes as he saw the abandoned notebook laying in the snow earlier. Now, Anne was in possession of it and was furiously scribbling the scores inside. 

Gilbert wasn’t sure why, but he straightened his shoulders, and slid the puck over as hard as he could to his other teammate. It was a good pass, if he did say so himself. Someone on his team yelled out a compliment.

His first reaction was to look over at Anne.

This time, she was looking a him. Her eyes widen again, and she immediately looks down and starts writing the scores again. Gilbert knows why his heart jumps, and he can’t help himself.

This goes on for a while. His arms are exhausted and he’s sweating despite the snowflakes occasionally falling on his coat, but he has one goal in mind and it’s definitely not to win this game. He finds himself repeatedly glancing at Anne to see if she saw whatever he had done. His team was winning by four points now. How many times would she mention him in the article she was writing?

He presses his tongue against his cheek in concentration.

By the time that the game is done, Gilbert can’t feel his face. He wasn’t even sure of the score. He can sense Ruby’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his head, and he hopes that Anne is watching. Why did he care so much if she was or not?

A couple of his classmates pat him on the back as he walks off the ice. If he’s being honest, he feels a bit silly. He’s sweating and shivering at the same time, and his arm feels like someone ripped his arm out of its socket- just to impress a girl who wasn’t even looking in his direction-

“Gilbert?”

His breath hitched. Turning around, he was greeted by red hair flying against the wind. Gilbert tried not to notice the pink in her cheeks from the cold, and how he once heard her say pink looked horrendous on her because of her hair. He couldn’t disagree more.

“Hi,” he responded simply, finally gathering the courage. “Did you need something?”

He cringed inwardly. _Do you need something?_ Is that all he could think to say?

Anne straightened her shoulders, opening her book to a clean page. “I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

“About the game!’ she added quickly, tucking her hair behind her ear and retrieving her pen from her pocket. “Just a couple of quick words, for the school newspaper.”

He rubbed his shoulders awkwardly, not sure how to tell Anne that his mind was set on impressing her and whenever her eyes were on him, he could feel his heart racing faster than the speed of the puck on the ice.

He settled for “Sure, sounds good!”

Taking a breath, Anne perked up, and started writing a title. “You’ve improved quite a bit from the last game- do you practice a lot at home?”

Gilbert hesitated before answering. On one hand, he couldn’t deny he was just good at things like hockey because he was in good shape and could stand to be outside in the cold for long durations of time, but on the other, he knew bragging would make Anne roll her eyes and make him seem like a prick.

“I don’t- I mean, I do sometimes, when I’m not busy, but I guess I just got lucky today. I had a good audience watching me.”

Anne looks up from her paper, and furrows her eyebrows, but doesn’t let his comment deter her.

“Do you like being the team captain, or do you like letting others lead?”

His head was spinning, and for the rest of Anne’s questions, he made up random answers that he knew would sound good in a school newspaper. She made a few more scratches in her notebook, before shutting it and thanking him for his time.

That was it?

Before she could walk away, Gilbert stopped her.

‘Did you enjoy the game?” he asked softly, afraid of her ignoring him and them not talking for another week. He needed more than just dignified reporter talk and bickering about right answers on a test.

Anne’s eyes widened ever so slightly, taking a step forward without thinking. Gilbert stepped a foot closer, and then suddenly there was hardly any distance between them.

“I’m sure you must have found it interesting enough to do commentary.”

Gilbert could feel her breath against his face, and subconsciously leaned in closer.

However, Anne suddenly became hyper-aware of the situation and took a step back and shook herself out of it.

“The game was wonderful, Gilbert. You did a wonderful job.”

With that, she turned sharply and began to strut away. Gilbert’s shoulders slumped, but he couldn’t give up hope yet.

“Can I walk you home?” he called out after her, increasing his speed. “We can talk more about the game!”

“I’ll see you at school!”

Sighing, he begrudgingly made his way home, faze still frozen and arm still shooting pain. He almost seemed to forget about it while talking to Anne.


End file.
